An important aspect of preparing learners for the globalized "knowledge society" is the development of (cognitive) academic language proficiency (CALP) in an L2 for use in postgraduate and/or professional environments. This small-scale study sought trends in acquisition and usage of English as an L2 amongst Latin American L1 Spanish-users. Among other findings, although stronger informal conversational skills (BICS) correlated with early exposure/instruction, many participants who came to English relatively late in life for use in postgraduate/professional situations had been able to develop sufficient CALP for success, although reporting significant challenges in L2 CALP development perceived as related to underdeveloped L1 CALP, despite L1 tertiary educational experience. Further investigation is vital, but there is a clear need to consider the non-linguistic (as well as linguistic) elements that play a role in the development of CALP for different purposes and at different levels, in both the L1 and any L2, amongst learners in different contexts.

The characterization of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) allows the establishment of genetic structures and phylogenetic relationships in human populations, tracing lineages far back in time. We analysed samples of mtDNA from twenty (20) Native American populations (700 individuals) dispersed throughout Colombian territory. Samples were collected during 1989-1993 in the context of the program Expedición Humana ("Human Expedition") and stored in the Biological Repository of the Institute of Human Genetics (IGH) at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia). Haplogroups were determined by analysis of RFLPs. Most frequent was haplogroup A, with 338 individuals (48.3%). Haplogroup A is also one of the most frequent haplogroups in Mesoamerica, and we interpret our finding as supporting models that propose Chibchan-speaking groups migrated to northern Colombia from Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. Haplogroup C was found in 199 individuals (28.4%), while less frequent were B and D, with 113 and 41 (16% and 6%) individuals, respectively. The haplogroups of nine (9) individuals (1.3%) could not be determined due to the low quality of the samples of DNA. Although all the sampled populations had genetic structures that fit broadly into the patterns that might be expected for contemporary Central and South American indigenous groups, it was found that haplogroups A and B were more frequent in northern Colombia, while haplogroups C and D were more frequent in southern and south-western Colombia.

Learners are increasingly required to analyze critically information presented in languages other than their first to form reasoned opinions and solve problems. It is thus urgent to develop their argumentation skills, needed not only for academic success but also later professional life—and, indeed, by participant citizens in democratic societies. Although there has been some increased interest in teaching argumentation at pre-tertiary levels, this remains a relatively unexplored issue in Colombia (and, indeed, much of the developing world), certainly when considering writing in a second language. This qualitative study analyzed the influence of graphic organizers on the development of argumentative written tasks by a group of sixth-grade English learners. Data was collected through surveys, questionnaires, focus group, a teachers’ journal, and students’ written artifacts and analyzed through the grounded theory approach. Findings revealed that using graphic organizers positively influenced learners’ argumentative writing skills, specifically through supporting strategic information planning and argumentative linearization during the pre- and while-writing stages. These understandings show that younger learners can develop complex argumentative writing skills in a second language, thereby offering significant lessons for teachers of language—and content—in both the first and additional languages.

This paper reports on the initial stages of a larger study on plurilingual rhetorical communicative competences.  Experiential evidence indicated a mismatch between the academic writing competences desired from and those displayed by the participants—adult bilingual (L1 Spanish, L+ English) English-language teacher trainees in a postgraduate program at Colombian university.  We examined participants’ beliefs and practices concerning academic writing to identify the sources of their challenges and develop the evidential basis for identifying appropriate remedial strategies.  This was a mixed methods study, in which we analyzed data from semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, and student artifacts through the grounded theory approach and descriptive statistics.  The results suggest that participants’ challenges with rhetorical aspects of academic writing stem from a lack of training.  However, participants were relatively successful with aspects of writing in which they had been trained: discrete language skills and purely descriptive prose.  We conclude their academic writing difficulties are fundamentally non-linguistic and hypothesize they would face similar academic writing challenges even if writing in their L1.  There is an urgent need to address these challenges, not only because rhetorical competences are increasingly important in a knowledge-driven society but also because teachers need to be able to train their own students in such competences.

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